Tracking what's alive on Earth and what affects it.
Humans, now
On the wall: 1,000 or fewer left in the wild
Kakī (black stilt)
about141
Estimate, no range
August 2025
Himantopus novaezelandiae
New Zealand, braided rivers of the Mackenzie Basin
Counted August 2025, by New Zealand's Department of Conservation (released 12 August 2025).
The latest official figure for the Kakī (black stilt) is about 141 wild adults, an estimate with no range, counted August 2025 by New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC).
DOC raises young kakī from eggs in captivity and releases them to join about 141 wild adults (August 2025).
How it was counted
New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) estimates birds, not pairs or nests, across the whole wild population, adults only, and publishes the figure without a range. The young birds released in August 2025 are not in it.
The figure is an estimate that New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) published without a range, so it reads as about 141 wild adults in August 2025, not exactly that many.
Earlier figures
- 169 in August 2023: the previous count. Source: New Zealand Department of Conservation.
What moves it
New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) names introduced predators such as feral cats and ferrets, and predators from the air such as harriers and black-backed gulls. It also names habitat loss and modification (such as hydroelectric and farm development and weed invasion) and people using riverbeds and wetlands, who can crush eggs or chicks and scare adults off their nests.
- introduced predators such as feral cats and ferrets, and aerial predators such as harriers and black-backed gulls.
especially introduced mammalian predators like feral cats and ferrets
Source: New Zealand Department of Conservation. - habitat loss and modification, such as hydroelectric and farm development and weed invasion.
Habitat loss and modification
Source: New Zealand Department of Conservation. - human disturbance: people using riverbeds and wetlands can crush eggs or chicks and scare adults off their nests.
recreational users of riverbeds and wetlands can crush eggs or chicks and scare adult kakī away from their nests
Source: New Zealand Department of Conservation.
Who is helping
New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC) raises young kakī in captivity from eggs at its Twizel facility and releases them through its Kakī Recovery Programme, and the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust raises birds at its captive breeding facility in Christchurch. Te Manahuna Aoraki and Project River Recovery, with local landowners, run extensive predator trapping across the Mackenzie Basin.
The next count
No date for the next count is known as of 12 November 2026.
Sources
New Zealand Department of Conservation
- New Zealand Department of Conservation Last checked 12 November 2026.
- Black stilt/kakī: wetland and river birds Last checked 12 November 2026.
What changed
- 12 November 2026 Added to Live Species, on the wall (1,000 or fewer): About 141 (Estimate, no range, August 2025).
Next on the wall
The letter
The letter comes once a month, on the first Thursday. It gives what changed on Live Species, one animal up close and the humans figure for contrast.